Treaty of Madrid (5 October 1750)

Treaty of Madrid
	Spanish negotiator José de Carvajal y Lancáster
Context	Britain and Spain agree to terminate the Asiento awarded in 1713, in return for a one-off payment of £100,000 and renew trading rights for merchants in Cádiz
Signed	5 October 1750
Location	Madrid
Negotiators	Benjamin Keene ; José de Carvajal y Lancáster
Signatories	Benjamin Keene ; José de Carvajal y Lancáster
Parties	Great Britain ; Spain
Language	French, Spanish, English

The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Treaty of Aquisgran, was a commercial treaty between Britain and Spain, formally signed on 5 October 1750 in Madrid.

Commercial tensions over the Asiento, a monopoly contract allowing foreign merchants to supply slaves to Spanish America (which was granted by the Spanish Crown to Britain via the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht), and alleged smuggling of British goods into Spain's American colonies led to the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739. This was followed by the War of the Austrian Succession, ended by the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

In addition to the Asiento, there was also a substantial import and export trade between Spain and Britain, carried out by British merchants based in Cádiz. Due to an error by negotiators at Aix-la-Chapelle, the treaty failed to renew their trading privileges, which were treated as cancelled by the Spanish. Both sides also claimed they were owed large sums of money in regards to the Asiento.

However, the trade through Cadiz was equally important to Spain, while Ferdinand VI, who succeeded as king in 1746, was more pro-British than his predecessor. This allowed the two sides to reach agreement on a new treaty, which restored trading privileges, while the Asiento was cancelled in return for a one time payment of £100,000 to the British.